Media Matters Daily Summary

Here are today's news items from Media Matters for America, click on the title or 'read more' to read the entirety of each story. Quick Fact: Wash. Times, Fox News' North advance claim that repealing DADT is a harmful "social experiment" The Washington Times and Fox News host Oliver North advanced the baseless claim that repealing "don't ask, don't tell" amounts to a "social experiment" and "social engineering" that would be detrimental to the military and "military readiness." In fact, those claims are heavily undermined by the fact that other countries allow gay men and lesbians to serve in the military, and many have said it has not created problems. Read More Morris forwards dubious figure for total TARP repayments In a New York Post column, Dick Morris and Eileen McGann wrote that President Obama should "[r]efund to the Treasury the $500 billion in TARP funds repaid by the banks." But according to the Treasury Department, Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) repayments have totaled $165 billion as of January 6, a third of the figure offered by Morris and McGann. Read More Fox & Friends ignores Fox News' own reporting in trumpeting Bond's dubious accusations regarding disclosure of Abdulmutallab's cooperation Fox & Friends co-hosts highlighted Sen. Kit Bond's (R-MO) allegation that it was wrong to disclose that Northwest Airlines bombing suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was now cooperating with the investigation because, according to Bond, FBI officials, including director Robert Mueller, instructed members of the Senate Intelligence Committee that "keeping the fact of his cooperation quiet was vital to preventing future attacks against the United States." But Fox & Friends ignored its own organization's reporting that Senate Intelligence Committee chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and law enforcement officials have disputed Bond's accusations. Read More Why does Fox choose to use loaded term "illegals"? On February 5, Fox News' Fox & Friends aired on-screen text stating, "Estimates: 980,000 illegals living in FL," continuing a Fox News pattern of using the pejorative and unprofessional term "illegals" to refer to immigrants in the United States without legal status. Prominent journalists' associations have denounced the use of the term "illegals" by the news media, noting that the term "criminaliz[es] the person, not the action," and "skew[s] the public debate on immigration issues." Read More Politico quotes Lott calling Obama "foolish" for trying to pass cap and trade without noting Lott lobbied against it The Politico quoted former Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) stating that the Obama administration was "foolish to take all those big votes on cap and trade" because doing so endangered moderate Democrats. While Politico identified Lott as a lobbyist, it did not note that his firm lobbies for oil companies on issues including the cap and trade bill, and thus has a financial interest in its defeat. Read More Wash. Times' Pruden continues assault on gay men and lesbians in military In an anti-gay screed, Washington Times editor emeritus Wesley Pruden wrote that "[t]here's really not very much gay about war," but that "[y]ou might think war is endless gaiety, like Mardi Gras, from this week's coverage of" Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mike Mullen's February 2 testimony on repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT). This is only the most recent offense in Pruden's and the Washington Times' long history of anti-gay rhetoric and smears, including Pruden's prior statements that those who support allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military want to "make the barracks safe for sodomy," and that doing so would "render [the military] inoperable for the convenience of puffs and poofs." Read More You can help support our work; become a volunteer media monitor, or donate to Media Matters for America.